Chapter 11 - Microcredit: The Financial Revolution

As part of our continued discussion on finding ways to empower women, the idea of microcredit is relatively unusual and fresh. Lending money to people in poverty might sound foolish, but it turns out that these people have an extremely high repayment rate. The loans are often once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to change fate and step out of poverty for these borrowers. Moreover, giving these loans specifically to women can yield incredible results as demonstrated in Saima’s narrative.

What’s interesting in her account is that after she became successful, Saima did not abandon her husband. “And what about finding another wife who might bear him a son? Saima chuckled at the question: ‘Now nobody says anything about that.’” (p. 187) Perhaps, the cultural expectations are different. In conservative locations, marriages are much more bounded and a man may still be necessary in a household.

In another example, we see the challenges aid organizations face as a result of the conservative culture of women. “Many Pakistanis also believed that no unmarried woman of honor would leave her parents’ home and live on her own, so that Kashf women staff attracted leers and frowns. In later years, Roshaneh had to bend to reality and hire some male branch heads, because it is so difficult to find women willing to relocate to poor villages.” (p. 190) Getting a loan can be seen as a sign of weakness. For a woman to get a loan, that puts even further pressure on family pride.

“It is not uncommon to stumble across a mother mourning a child who has just died of malaria for want of a $5 mosquito bed net and then find the child’s father at a bar, where he spends $5 each week. Several studies suggest that when women gain control over spending, less family money is devoted to instant gratification and more for education and starting small businesses.” (p. 192) Because mothers spend more time in the family, she actually sees the needs in the family and children. While fathers typically go out and work, he is away from family and does not see the problems at home as much. Mentally, he thinks he’s already making a huge contribution to the family by providing income, and is more like to spend money on bars or prostitution as a self-reward.

“Because men now typically control the purse strings, it appears that the poorest families in the world typically spend approximately ten times as much (20 percent of their income on average) on a combination of alcohol, prostitutes, candy, sugary drinks, and lavish feasts as they do on educating their children.” (p. 192-193) Education is a continued investment that requires years to see any tangible returns. Thus, it becomes less convincing for families to pay tuition year after year when instant pleasures such as alcohol and prostitution offers quick escape from reality. It’s like buying inexpensive fast food that fills you up versus buying a healthy but more expensive salad that may leave you hungry still. For people in poverty, their goals are usually short-sighted because there is just no way for them to plan for even the year ahead, let alone five or ten years down the road.

These challenges are seen every day in development work, but what makes microfinance unusual is that it almost tries to bring business-driven commercial banks into a non-profit charitable environment. In the video below, we see a contrasting standpoint compared to the personal stories from Kristof. The borrowers are referred to as “clients” and the organization is focused on building a sustainable business. However, it is commendable that they provide essential training on financial management and give value to “private relationships.”

In another video, we see the woman, Goretti Nyabenda, mentioned in the second half of Chapter 11.

In a different perspective, Hillary Clinton discussed the important of nutrition and agriculture. There has been a lack of emphasis on these subjects in recent years, leading to a bigger demand in graduates of these fields. Though we have discussed the importance of education throughout class, nutrition is just as important. It’s like giving a flower sunlight but not water if we do not provide children with adequate food. Food security and agricultural development ensure proper brain development, and when parents send their children to school, that’s how their children can get the most out of it.

In the latter part of class, we conducted an activity in which a female president has supposedly been elected in the United States. What's the platform she was elected for and what are the challenges she may face? In groups, we try to answer these questions:

1. What was her platform to get elected/what did her campaign ads highlight?
2. What is the primary focus of her presidency?
3. What are her major challenges as president? 
4. What will be her legacy/how will she be remembered as president?

Collectively, we agreed that negotiating on the world stage will be difficult for a female president. This is especially true if she is in talks with a conservative country where men hold all the leadership positions. But she will definitely be remembered as the first female president of our country, the first commander-in-chief. She will be the world's most powerful person, and promote women to equality with men.

Lastly, here's a video we did not get to in class. What would the world be like if women ruled the world? Women experience life differently than men, and that experience affects how problems are perceived and how solutions are developed.